Chapter 495
The City of the Dead in the Mini Reaper Garden was stirred by the awakening of new souls.
These souls belonged to the researchers from a research institute in Japan, once the second largest of its kind.
They slowly opened their eyes, as if waking from a long slumber.
The empty parking lot, bathed in soft morning sunlight, seemed strangely familiar yet unfamiliar.
“Where is this…?”
One of the researchers muttered as he looked around.
Confusion mirrored in the faces of the others as well.
The last thing they remembered was the flood of bright, colorful lights filling their vision, but now, it was the warm sunlight that enveloped them.
At that moment, small eyes glinted from the shadows scattered across the parking lot.
Next to a pile of protruding rocks.
Behind the plastic poles marking the road.
Behind the trees surrounding the lot.
Mini Reapers were watching the new humans with curious eyes from all directions.
Their gazes were filled with excitement and anticipation, much like children.
‘It’s a human.’
‘A new human!’
‘Hehe.’
The whispers of the Mini Reapers, a sound that would usually be unheard, drifted through the air.
In that moment, the researchers’ confused expressions slowly began to change.
Terrible memories flooded in like a tidal wave.
The memory of their minds being corrupted by mental contamination.
The disaster they caused, endangering the entire world.
The security team that tried to stop them, all of whom perished.
And the countless innocent lives lost.
When the first tear fell, as though it were a signal, the researchers slowly kneeled and began sobbing.
Some clutched their chests, while others pounded the ground with their fists.
Their cries, mixed with self-blame, regret, and guilt, filled the silent street.
‘!!!’
At that moment, small footsteps echoed.
From the shadows, the Mini Reapers swarmed out.
Startled by the sight of the humans crying, the Mini Reapers, who had never hesitated before, rushed toward the weeping humans without any hesitation.
With their tiny bodies, they patted the humans’ large shoulders, wiped their tears, and held their hands.
‘Human, don’t cry!’
‘It’s okay, we’ve all been there.’
‘Humans are weak, so it couldn’t be helped.’
The pure words of comfort from the Mini Reapers soothed the researchers’ hearts.
There was no criticism or resentment in their tiny gestures.
Only warmth, understanding, and forgiveness.
Not far from those researchers, a man and the Golden Reaper were present.
The man was the head of the research institute, the one who had destroyed the very institute with a bomb, causing the mental contamination.
“I’m sorry. I was foolish.”
The man regretted his decision to continue the research after excluding the Golden Reaper, feeling responsible for what had happened.
But the Golden Reaper smiled faintly and shook his head.
‘It’s okay!’
‘Humans aren’t bad.’
‘Good humans can do anything!’
Then the Golden Reaper climbed up the man’s body and gently patted his cheek.
With the Mini Reapers’ sincere comfort, the researchers’ tears began to subside.
The Mini Reapers’ will, transmitted not through words but through emotions, held such power.
It was a storm of feelings so strong that anyone could truly feel that everything would be okay, as long as it came from a place of genuine sincerity.
So, standing up again with the Mini Reapers’ comfort, the researchers decided to reopen the institute.
It would be a small research facility dedicated to the Mini Reapers who had saved them.
At the entrance of that research institute, a familiar sign was hung up.
<Welcome, Mini Reapers!>
Mini Reaper Garden, Marshmallow Plains.
I was walking through the somewhat lonely-looking area.
The Marshmallow Plains, once a battlefield, now seemed so calm that it was hard to believe.
Though deep cracks and the ruins of collapsed buildings remained, only the shadows of clouds flowing between the canopy gently touched those wounds.
The wind whistled through the columns of the fallen Colosseum.
Once a grand fortress of knights, now half-destroyed and standing alone, it resembled a war memorial from the battlefield.
Restoration work was slow.
Normally, the Mini Reapers would rush in and restore everything to its original state in no time, but now, that wasn’t possible.
The children had more important things to do.
Just as much as the Mini Reaper Garden, or perhaps even more so, the Earth had been struck by an unprecedented disaster.
Half of both Korea and Japan had vanished, leaving behind only deep sorrow in their place.
Although the capitals of both nations remained outside the affected area, the fact that so many had died remained unchanged.
The Mini Reapers were constantly moving between the human world.
The children stayed by the side of those engulfed in loss and despair, offering small words of comfort.
Sometimes, they patted the shoulders of the grieving, and at other times, they quietly kept watch over those sobbing alone.
Perhaps that was why I often received their messages.
The truth the children knew—Valhalla, the resting place of the deceased in peace.
How many humans would be comforted if they were told about it?
Such thoughts filled the minds of Mini Reapers, and hundreds of them were born each day.
But that request could never be fulfilled.
It was too troublesome.
Or rather, if the existence of the afterlife with the Mini Reapers was revealed to humans, it would cause a massive wave of suicides.
When the volume of requests became unbearable, I finally threatened the Mini Reapers.
If anyone asked to reveal Valhalla, I would turn them all into Dije.
As always, the threat of Dije worked wonders.
The calls from the Mini Reapers noticeably decreased.
‘Mom, can’t you tell them about Valhalla?’
Of course, occasionally, I still received such requests, but I could tolerate it.
‘No!’
In an instant, I teleported and turned the Golden Reaper, who had broken the rule, into a Dije before returning to the Mini Reaper Garden.
And as I strolled through the garden, I noticed the Lead Doll and the Saint Doll sitting face to face, doing something.
[Can you give me that White Reaper?]
[?!]
The Lead Doll, with a confused expression, began to look around.
Its eyes trembled, and its uncertainty was so palpable that even I could clearly feel it.
A little while later, the Lead Doll, still confused, slowly offered the small White Reaper.
[Didn’t I tell you not to give the White Reaper…?]
The Saint Doll sent an annoyed glance and received the White Reaper with a slightly gloomy expression.
Then, like an established rule, it bit down hard on the White Reaper’s back.
Kkyeeng kkeeng.
[No…!]
The Lead Doll looked at the White Reaper with a pitiful expression.
I’d never seen the Lead Doll make such a face before.
Seeing that, I became a bit curious and walked over to ask what they were doing.
[We were training because of the Valhalla incident.]
The Saint Doll’s words had quite a bit of persuasive power, even if they weren’t entirely practical.
One of the causes of this situation was that the Lead Doll always tried to fulfill every wish.
But the Saint Doll’s plan seemed close to impossible.
To me, the Lead Doll’s nature was to accept everything, so I couldn’t see how that would work.
Once more, the Saint Doll handed the White Reaper to the Lead Doll, sending it another stern glare.
[You can’t give the White Reaper to anyone else. If you give it to me, I’ll bite it again!]
And a little time passed before the Saint Doll once again requested it.
[Can you give me that White Reaper?]
[?!]
The same situation repeated again.
It was such a funny sight that I couldn’t help but laugh.
Hehe.
The Step of the Unworthy Cannot Touch the Land.
A high plateau that overlooked all of the world, a sanctuary only accessible to the chosen, where the rules allowed only the deserving to enter.
This place, marked by deep claw marks that gouged into the earth, had once been a sacred territory on the Black Planet.
Now it had moved to Earth, but it still existed, unmarked on any map.
On this plateau, where clouds drifted beneath your feet, everything in the world appeared infinitesimally small.
Cities appeared like blurry dots, and mountain ranges were only faint lines.
Here, one could gaze down upon everything below, as if it were a divine garden.
Then, the once-calm atmosphere of the plateau began to ripple.
Like a great shadow descending, darkness began to spread slowly.
From that darkness, a figure emerged.
A giant with long arms, its skin intertwined with dry, twisted trees.
Nameless.
Nameless had once been where the gods resided, and now it revealed itself in the land where time had been dormant.
Tattered by the Evolution Liquid, Nameless stood tall on the plateau, staring at the distant horizon.
[Now, no ‘human’ remains who remembers the name of the gods.]
[The wish… has been fulfilled.]
And slowly, ever so slowly.
Nameless began to move its giant body.
It walked toward the spot where the Black Giant once lay, a place marked by the traces of time.
And as if performing an ancient ritual, it carefully laid its body down.
